I was browsing Viki.com recently looking for something to watch and came across Romance of the Condor Heroes. Based on the title I was hoping it was a remake of either Legend of the Condor Heroes or Return of the Condor Heroes. I was glad to see it was a remake of Return of the Condor Heroes which is my favorite wuxia drama. Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction referring to the exploits of martial arts adventurers in Ancient China. Return of the Condor Heroes is the second in a trilogy of wuxia novels written by Louis Cha(Jin Yong). The first being Legend of the Condor Heroes and the third is Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre.
I have enjoyed watching Return of the Condor Heroes(2006) many times and I was happy to see there was a remake. Honestly the Condor Trilogy probably has the most remakes of any television series to date, they are just that popular. According to Wikipedia the earliest drama adaptation of Romance of the Condor Heroes was a drama produced in Hong Kong in 1976. Every few years since then another remake has come out, the latest before this one being in 2006. There is even an anime adaptation, produced in 2001.
Romance of the Condor Heroes has 50 episodes, I have watched up to episode 20 and so far so good, I like it. The problem with remakes is that they cannot avoid a comparison to previous drams. All the time I was watching I kept thinking about the 2006 version and how it had depicted the same scenes. The greatest difference is in improved graphics; obviously Romance of the Condor Heroes has been produced with better technology so the graphics are better. The story line so far is pretty much the same however the latest remake has gone into more detail into the background and motivation of the characters and the times they live in which has made the drama more fun to watch.
I couldn't stop myself from comparing the lead characters from both the 2006 version and this one. In my opinion Liu Yifei who plays Xiaolongnü in the 2006 version is more beautiful than Michelle Chen who plays the same character in Romance of the Condor Heroes. I can't make much of a comparison on their acting but so far Michelle Chen has portrayed the character well. Huang Xiaoming was great as Yang Guo in the 2006 drama and so far Chen Xiao who plays the same character in Romance of the Condor Heroes has been good.
Hopefully the good performances continue and Romance of the Condor Heroes can become my new favorite wuxia drama.
No comments:
Post a Comment